Mujeres de Negro

WOMEN IN BLACK, BELGRADE:
REPORT FOR THE FOURTH QUARTER OF 2001

This report covers Women in Black activities in the fourth quarter of 2001

PUBLIC ACTIVITIES

Public activities can be divided in the following way:

Women’s solidarity against war

The cycle of street activities and performances was in the form of protests and performances. Through these actions, we tried to make visible our solidarity with feminist-pacifist movements throughout the world, and particularly in war-affected areas (Afghanistan, The Middle East). The activities were targeted against terrorist violence, all forms of fundamentalism and against the armed intervention in Afghanistan.

3^rd October 2001 – protest in Belgrade

7^th October – performance of the Women’s Network of Solidarity against War in Vrnjacka Banja

9^th October – the same performance in Belgrade (on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Women in Black)

17^th and 24^th October – protests against the military intervention in Afghanistan held in Belgrade

27^th October – peace activity Women’s Solidarity against War and Stop to Military Intervention in Afghanistan! In Novi Pazar

3^rd November – the same activities held in Leskovac

17^th November – the same activities held in Kragujevac

28^th December Protest in Belgrade (as part of the international action launched by Women in Black of Israel against the war terror in Palestine);

Facing the past (wars and atrocities in the region, reminding of civilian resistance to war in Serbia)

27^th October - Peace Action We don’t forget Homage to all the victims of the war in Novi Pazar

3^rd November – the same in Leskovac

17^th November – marking the tenth anniversary of the conquest of Vukovar in Kragujevac

(the above mentioned three activities were part of activities devoted to women’s solidarity against war);

8^th December – the protest Let us Face Responsibility in Pancevo (in cooperation with the Women’s Peace Group);

Marking international dates

25^th November – handing out leaflets (together with other women’s groups) in Belgrade on the occasion of the International Action Day against violence towards women.

10^th December – protest in Belgrade on the occasion of Human Rights Day.

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

Traveling women’s peace workshops

The project was started in February 1998. Within the fifth cycle Antimilitarism and Women, workshops were held on 27^th and 28^th October in Novi Pazar, with the participation of women from al the towns in the region of Sandzak.

The evaluation of the fifth cycle was held on 17^th and 18^th November in Kragujevac, and on 16^th of November, the participants also evaluated the workshop entitled Nothing will ever be the same as before September.

Power and Otherness

The third (final) phase of the project was held between 5^th and 7^th October in Vrnjacka Banja (three workshops with 30 participants from Banat, Sandzak and south-east Serbia).

Why is nationalism on the rise in Serbia?

A workshop with this title was held on 21^st November in Belgrade with twenty participants from different women’s groups from Belgrade.

How to serve justice?

A workshop was held in cooperation with the Women’s Peace Group on 8^th December in Pancevo.

BRIDGES OF PEACE AND DEMOCRACY

The project has been under way since 1999, and over this period only one panel discussion was held, on 6^th October in Vrnjacka Banja with the topic: Difficulties of Transition:Serbia and Croatia

ANTIMILITARISM AND CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION

Most activities were devoted to the amendments to the Law on the Yugoslav Army. The amendments were adopted at the end of December (shortening of the military service to nine months and the right to civilian army service in the duration of 13 months, which, of course, did not satisfy our demands). Within the campaign of promoting conscientious objection, the Conscientious objection Network organized :

- actions of distributing leaflets in over twenty towns in Serbia (the most massive one was in Belgrade, on 25^th October, when 4,000 leaflets were distributed),

- panel discussions (on 6^th October in Ruma and on 25^th octiber in Mladenovac),

- the performance Let us demilitarize ourselves – let us demilitarize our surroundings! On 3^rd November in Leskovac.

In addition to this, operational meetings and planning activities were held.

PARTICIPATION AT INTERNATIONAL GATHERINGS

- from 10^th till 24^th October, the exhibition of Women in Black in Munich, organized by Goethe-Foruma (attended by Women in Black representatives at the opening session and accompanying activities),

- from 10^th till 14^th October, the participation at the Peace March in Perugia –Asizi and also at the conference European Integrations and Social Reconstruction of the Balkans in Perugia.

- From 18^th till 23^rd December - participation at the symposium on abolishing of compulsory military service held in Barcelona in the organization of the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO).

- On 7^th and 8^th December, participation of our representative at the conference "Disarmament and Development" within the NGO Forum, during the last week of Belgian presidency in the EU.

CAMPAGNS OF SOLIDARITY – GLOBAL SISTERHOOD

Over this period, we devoted special attention to such activities, those being the following:

- participation at campaigns of international peace networks, and particularly of Women in Black, against the military intervention in Afghanistan,

- participation in activities expressing solidarity with RAWA (anti-fundamentalist network an Afghani women),

- Solidarity with Women in Black from USA exposed to repressive measures because of their anti-war activities,

- Solidarity with Israeli and Palestinian pacifists,

- Participation in the campaign for the amnesty of Safaya Huseini Tudu and Tamina Milani, victims of fundamentalist repression in Nigeria and Iran,

- Petition to the Colombian authorities against the brutal violence against the activists of the Women’s People’s Organization (OFP).

The civilian networks throughout the country and abroad were informed about all those activities. We forwarded information on all events and cases which called for solidarity, encouraging them to join the campaigns in which Women in Black took part.

PUBLISHING ACTIVITIES

The brochure Nothing will ever be the same after September 11^th (58 pages) contains domestic and foreign announcements, analyses, essays and comments concerning the situation in the world following September 11^th.

The women’s peace calendar 2002 (210 pages), in addition to a calendar contains basic facts related to outstanding dates in women’s history, particularly of the International Network of Women in Black and the anti-war movement in Serbia and in the region.

Belgrade, 6^th January 2002.